Boston University Student Forced to Pay $675K to RIAA

Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum was directed to pay $675,000 in damages to the RIAA by a federal jury. Mr. Tenenbaum was charged with willfull copyright infringement by downloading and sharing music on peer-to-peer networks.

Mr. Tenenbaum admitted that he downloaded and shared songs between 1999 and 2008 on the peer-to-peer networks Napster, KaZaA and AudioGalaxy. The RIAA went after damages for 30 songs. That's about $22,500 per song.

The RIAA said in a statement: "We are grateful for the jury's service and their recognition of the impact of illegal downloading on the music community. We appreciate that Mr. Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work. From the beginning that's what this case has been about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior."